Approaches in Developing an Integrative and Evidence-Based Curriculum in Chinese Herbal Medicine

Abstract

In Australia, Chinese medicine is practiced within a complex health care system in which western medicine is dominant. Chinese medicine is an evolving medical system in terms of practice and education, and has moved into western settings. For Chinese medicine to develop in western countries there needs to be integration of Chinese medicine with western medicine, not only from the point of knowledge about the human state of existence but in the sense of integration of Chinese medicine within the context of a western health care system that is built around western medicine, the dominant form of health care within western countries. It is important that educational programmes in Chinese medicine are not only consistent with the philosophy of Chinese medicine but are relevant to the context in which Chinese medicine is practiced. In the development of RMIT University’s Master of Applied Science (Chinese Herbal Medicine), an educational approach was adopted that emphasises the integration of western medicine and Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is beginning to be studied using the same scientific research methodology that is applied to western medicine and that increasingly is used to guide clinical practice. The evidence-based approach to the study and practice of Chinese herbal medicine has been adopted in the curriculum development and implementation. This is an illustration of the bridging process that is beginning to occur in both China and as Chinese medicine establishes itself within western settings. The overall programme design was guided by a capability-based approach, one in which the holistic capability that is the desired outcome